Has Anyone Really Quizzed Trainers?
In some cases I have had to read between the lines, in others it’s stated baldly. The sun is coming out from behind the clouds. Dawn is breaking. Reading the tea leaves is not only possible but worthwhile. The secret is out. The truth has triumphed.
What I am hearing is that nobody much likes short course racing, perhaps excepting trainers with low-quality country dogs. In reality, trainers – and probably owners – prefer longer races.
The aim is not just to sustain and strengthen the breed, although that would be reason enough. It must be job satisfaction.
How much skill do you need to train a dog to jump out of a box (which is done in the rearing stage anyway) and then run 300m? Not a lot. Keep it healthy and well fed. Let it run around the backyard a couple of times a day. Then chauffeur it to the track in an air-conditioned limo. Collect a nice prize and do it all again in a few days’ time.
On the other hand, you could ask what skills are needed to train that 300m squib to run 400m? Quite a bit more. The dog has to jump well and finish well. It needs to harden up a bit. Perhaps more trialling? Closer attention to post-race checks? More visits to the vet? I don’t really know as all that is beyond my pay grade. But there is more effort involved. And experience.
Going up to 500m and longer is a whole new ball game. Breeding will come into it. Moving up through the Grades is a challenge. Watching over the dog’s confidence is important. Maybe some adjustments to the feed regime. Selecting and spacing its runs will need closer scrutiny. But mostly the trainer’s skill will come to the fore. And beating out one of the big guys puts a smile on the face.
Meanwhile, punters’ eyes will light up as they scurry over to the formguide to work out which dog might be able to burst through for a win. 500m demands more than just jumping prowess. The dog has to handle the traffic, avoid bumps, get around more awkward corners and still power to the line.
Can the trainers organise all this? Well, it seems some can and some can’t. So be it. That’s competition. But when it works you get real satisfaction from a job well done.
Principal Racing Authorities Roles?
What about the state authorities’ contribution? Pretty poor actually. They have caused the stampede towards the shorts by pushing slow dogs up the ladder using a myriad of combinations of pretend Grades, or no Grades at all. Then they sealed the deal by offering good money for bad dogs – some at half price but many others at full provincial rates. They sponsored the installation of extra boxes for the short trips, presumably because some trainers asked for them to allow weak dogs to compete for real money. Clubs were complicit.
Why bother to spend time and effort building up 500m dogs when you get the same reward for a 15 sec to 18 sec scamper? Which is why some 60% to 70% of races are now designed for short course dogs. They are jumping competitions, no more, no less.
Greyhound Racing Victoria Have Caught The Low Grade Bug
It’s not just in NSW, it’s everywhere as short races are now filling slots in prime city programs.
And it has repercussions. Last weekend Victoria launched the first of its alleged “exciting” new meetings with the Saturday morning meeting at Shepparton. All the low Grades were represented, including Maidens. All races were over 385m or 450m (the club has nothing shorter). The 8:30 am start pulled in only a few graveyard shift workers but patronage improved after 10 am and finished at 11:30 am with quite a nice Win pool. Virtually all races had full fields.
By comparison, later the same day, half the Meadows races (for five grand-plus) had short fields even though most were of the same Grades as those at Shepparton. Move over to the next day and the Sandown provincial meeting managed only nine races, of which only two had a full field.
The Shepparton meeting was allegedly fuelled by separate funding, but it also must be suspect for degrading meetings around it, thereby endangering overall income.
When you have run out of dogs, please don’t schedule more races.
Both customers and trainers want better challenges.
Those who have different ideas are welcome to comment.
Am I right or wrong?
Spot on Bruce. Short term gain but long term pain. The skill of training 500/600/700m ‘dogs’ has long gone unfortunately. Old time trainers had to be astute to survive off the punt as the prizemoney was not there. Nowadays it’s all about racing the ‘dog’ as much as you can, as just for starters most states are paying appearance fee’s of $50+ per dog. No skills required there!